stab dihedral, fins, etc...

From: Jim Richmond <indoorflyer_at_msn.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 23:19:14 -0000

This has been an interesting subject to me for some time. I regard the
separate fin/flat stab arrangement to be superior aerodynamically, but
the tip dihedral approach is lighter, easier to make, easier to pack
and has maybe less drag if the stab isn't too floppy.
For these reasons I used tip dihedral on the Salty Dog and then tried
it on my easy B, only to find that it was unable to recover from a dive
after siding down the plastic shroud at West Baden. Experimentation
disclosed that the culprit was the right tip dihedral(outer side). So
now you will find that my easy B stabs are flat on the starboard side
and only have tip dihedral on the port side. Maybe the photo Fred saw
was one of these planes.
Another possible reason for adding some tip dihedral is that it tends
to loosen the film a bit if your covering job is too tight(how else do
you loosen tight film?).

Jim Richmond
Carmel, IN
Received on Wed Feb 28 2007 - 15:19:17 CET